Spring Break in the Mountains

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Nicolas

Hey all!

Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada

For the second part of Spring Break, my family and I went to ski for a few days in Mont-Tremblant, which is just a bit over 80 miles north-west of Montreal. I believe it was time to something else in the snow after shovelling snow for a few days due to Winter Storm Stella. I had already been to this skiing resort when I was younger.

I think it is my favorite mountain on the East side of North America. It is not comparable to the height of the Canadian Rockies or Colorado in the West, but it is a great mountain. The village is awesome and you have the feeling of being in Vail or Whistler.

Beautiful sunset over the Mont-Tremblant village just after our arrival at the hotel.

Beautiful sunset over the Mont-Tremblant village just after our arrival to the hotel.

The village has all sorts of restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, boutiques and ski equipment stores. While we were there, it was also Spring Break for many high schools and universities in Ontario. I felt like I was in the United States since I was only listening to people talking in English.

The village during daytime.

The village at the bottom of the slopes becomes lively in the afternoon.

The Fairmont Tremblant is right by the slopes and is “ski-in ski-out.”

Even though Mont-Tremblant is mostly a winter seasonal destination, I heard many tourists come visit in the summer. There are many activities to do in the warmer months of the year such as golf, mountain biking, wall climbing and hiking. The is also a lake where you can fish, go canoeing and kayaking. I have not been in the summer but I hope to do so next summer!

If you want to visit Mont-Tremblant, you can either fly to Montreal (YUL) and drive to the resort, or you can fly directly to YTM seasonally via Montreal, Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) or Toronto City (YTZ).

Until next time!

Nicolas

Spring Break Road Trip

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Lindsey

For my last Spring Break, I decided to go somewhere I’d never been before. My sister, boyfriend, and I drove to Charleston, South Carolina for a few days. On the way up to Charleston, we stopped in Savannah, Georgia and Hilton Head Island, Georgia. It was an amazing trip despite the cold weather that swept across the East Coast.

On our first segment of the trip, we stopped at St. Simons Island, Georgia, which is home to some of the best BBQ in the United States. We normally fly up to St. Simons whenever we go, so it was cool to drive around the island and see all that it had to offer. There were gorgeous houses and buildings scattered all around.

We arrived in Savannah in the evening-just in time to grab some dinner. We were there a few days before St. Patrick’s Day, so there were decorations everywhere and people were dressed in green (Savannah has one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the nation). We ended up getting dinner down by the river and were surprised by the huge cargo ships going in and out of the port. The next day, we walked around the historic squares in Savannah, which are supposedly haunted. We even got to sit in the spot where Tom Hanks spoke those famous words, “Life is like a box of chocolates”.

Sitting where Forrest Gump was filmed in Chippewa Square

Jones Street, Savannah, GA

After exploring Savannah, we hit the road and arrived in Hilton Head Island a couple of hours later. It was raining and gloomy, but I can definitely imagine how beautiful the island would be in the summer. We went out to the famous Salty Dog Cafe, and walked around some souvenir stores. There were tons of resorts and golf courses that would make anyone dream of coming to Hilton Head.

We spent a few hours in Hilton Head, and then drove the last stretch to Charleston, South Carolina. I had wanted to go to Charleston for a long time, and I was so excited to be able to finally go! It was so much more than I imagined. I fell in love with the historic homes and the southern charm.

The Pink Door, Charleston, SC

Some of the best food I’ve ever eaten was in Charleston… seriously! My inner foodie was so happy, but my wallet definitely was not. Of course, in addition to eating well, we spent a lot of time exploring.

We walked around the Battery, walked down Rainbow Row, and went to tour the USS Yorktowne. On our last day in town, we went to Boone Hall Plantation, which is the plantation that was used in the popular movie, The Notebook. The architecture and the grounds were incredible, and I really appreciated all the work they are doing to keep it looking beautiful.

Rainbow Row

The entry into Boone Hall Plantation

Boone Hall Plantation Home

Charleston is definitely a city that I want to go back to again and again. I’m glad I was able to spend my last Spring Break exploring one of the gems of the South.

Until next time,

Lindsey

Ignite Research Abroad- Cuba

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Maryam

Hello everyone!

I hope you’ll had a fantastic spring break! My spring break was very exciting. I got selected to attend the Ignite Research Abroad Program to Cuba along with approximately 10 other students! It was a great experience, and I got to learn a little about the Cuban culture. There were approx 14 students in total. My research topic was about the process of reopening flight operations between Delta Airlines and Havana Airport after the suspension. I got to interview Demetra Bethavas, Delta’s Station Manager in Cuba and Mayda Molina, Director of Instituto de Aeronautica Civil de Cuba (she’s basically the head of Cuban “FAA”)!!! Talk about connections though! My report will be completed by end of April so I will be sure to post the link if it gets published.

Middle: Mayda Molina, Director of IACC

Cuba seemed like a different world- basically the whole world was moving forward but Cuba was stuck in time. There were antique cars, and my boyfriend and I got lucky to get a taxi back to the hotel in one of those classic cars!

This is a picture of me in one of those classic cars in Cuba!

This is a picture of me in one of the classic cars in Cuba!

My boyfriend, Brent, and I took a “classic” cab back to our hotel.

We visited modern Havana on our first day and toured around the Vedado neighbourhoods. On the second day, we attended a conference with a professor of University of Havana, Maria Elena Martin. She has a Doctor in Architecture. We also toured the Havana Plaza and visited Basilica Menor de San Francisco de Asis.

Posing in front of the Basilica Menor de San Francisco de Asis

“El Caballero de Paris” statue: Tourists touch this statue in the position displayed for good luck!

The next day, we visited Finca Vigia, where North America’s literary giant Ernest Hemingway spent twenty-one of his most important and productive years penning building blocks of English literature, followed by a visit to Cojimar, a small fishing village, which was one of Hemingway’s favourite places in Cuba.

Brent and I in front of Ernest Hemingway’s boat.

We visited Pinar del Rio tobacco region and toured around the Vinales Valley on the fourth day. It was beautiful, and everyone bought some of their famous cigars. I was lucky to get a sample cigar for free while the person was demonstrating how cigars were made!

Tobacco leaves in the factory that are hung for drying after which they are used to make cigars.

Brent and I in front of a tobacco farm in Pinar del Rio.

On the fifth day, we visited Las Terrazas, the natural splendor of Cuba and the coffee plantations. We visited the Museum of Fine Arts and Convento de Nuestra Senora de Belen, a humanitarian health project in Old Havana. It is a home to fifty elderly people and provides physiotherapy and ophthalmological services to many more elderly in the community. Other acitivities include exercise classes, board games, cognitive rehabilitation, films and crafts workshops. The walls were filled with beautiful intricate designs.

Convento de Nuestra Senora de Belen

The next day were visited Matanzas, also known as Cuban Athens, which was a grand port in colonial times for the export of sugar and also explored Cuba’s tallest bridge, Bacunayagua. Then, we continued to Varadero and had a relaxing time on the beach. We headed back to the US the next day.

Bacunayagua: Cuba’s tallest bridge

I had a fantastic time in Cuba learning about their culture. I must say that I got a little homesick, but that increased my adaptability to a different lifestyle. It was a great experience and would definitely recommend people to visit.

Until next time,

Maryam

Spring Break with my Friend Stella

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Nicolas

Hi all!

As I mentioned in my last post, the northeast of Canada and the United States received a lot of snow at the beginning of last week. Winter Storm Stella cancelled and delayed thousands of flights while airlines and airports were working on reestablishing operations. I spent the first part of the week home, in Montreal.

The winter storm arrived on Tuesday but snow continued to fall until Wednesday. I basically shoveled snow for three days in a row. On Tuesday afternoon, my mom and I tried to take the car to go buy salt at the store. We wanted to melt the snow in the driveway which is in a hill. It never happened since we didn’t even pass the first stop sign on our street. The car got stuck in the street that was covered with snow. After a few minutes, we just decided to go back home as the streets downtown would be slippery and narrow due to the snow. The snow on our street eventually got removed a few days later.

The snow plow truck pushed the snow on the sides of the streets making walls of heavy snow. The snow blocked the sidewalks and the entrance to my house.

We weren’t able to even pass the stop sign with the car because the ice and snow between the car’s tires and the asphalt was making the car slip to the right of the street in the snow walls.

Snow piles make the streets in the city very narrow.

I remember when I was a kid that I always loved snow storms. I’m sure you have an idea why? Because schools sometimes closed due to the snow fall! But that rarely happened as school only cancelled once or twice per year. In Canada compared to some parts in the United States, it has to snow a lot to make classes cancelled for the day. A few inches of snow won’t make you stay home for sure!

And you, what did you do for spring break? Did you go skiing or did you enjoy the beach and the sun in the south? In my next post, I’ll talk about what I did for the rest of the week. Hint: it involves a mountain!

Nicolas

Winter Storm Stella – Travel Tips

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Nicolas

As some you know, Winter Storm Stella has made its way to the northeast of the United States and Canada. It is the worst snow storm of the season and some areas got up to three feet of snow! The worst of the blizzard came yesterday but it is still snowing here where I am in Montreal, Canada. According to FlightAware, close to 6,500 flights were cancelled by U.S. airlines yesterday. Today (Wednesday), flight operations are getting back to normal slowly but there are still 1,000 cancellations and more than 3,000 flights delayed.

Recognizing the dedication of our ramp crew during difficult winter conditions yesterday at Montreal's @aeroportsMTL. pic.twitter.com/vyGmymiCgI

— Air Canada (@AirCanada) March 15, 2017

A close-up look at the people and machines that keep things moving safely when it snows at the airport #wintertravel https://t.co/62U488csN8

— Toronto Pearson (@TorontoPearson) March 14, 2017

Checkout the video above and learn how airports remove snow on taxiways, runways and other movement areas!

Thousands of airport and airline employees are working very hard and doing their best in order to get passengers safely and as quickly as possible to their final destination. If you are flying in the next few days, look at your flight status before heading to the airport. Your flight(s) might have been delayed or cancelled.

If you flight is delayed or cancelled, stay calm and be patient. Do not be angry at the airport customer service employees. Airlines and are not responsible for weather related delays. The employees are just trying to help passengers to get to their destination. I doubt that they will be willing to help you more if you shout at them!

Airlines are receiving more calls than usual during this period so the wait time will be very long. Your best bet might be to try to contact the airline via social media, such as Twitter. They might be able to assist you. Once your flight has been cancelled, some airlines have a system that automatically rebooks you to the next available flight.

If you don’t have to go anywhere, just stay home and stay away from streets as some of them are still covered with ice and snow.

Until next time!

Nicolas

Spring Break Round 2

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Billy

Hello, hello! After a nice two week hiatus, we’re back with our regularly scheduled broadcast. Spring Break was not too, too bad, which is nice.

The conference was held at the Sheraton Hotel. Unfortunately, the WiFi was not free so I didn’t get to work as productively as I would’ve liked.

The weather was also really wet and cold for some reason.

The first half of my break consisted of me representing The Avion Newspaper at this years College Media Association (CMA) conference in New York City. Considering that this was my first conference for anything, I think it went pretty well. The weather was a bit chilly so I never got to do any of the cool photo stuff I was planning to do, which was a bummer. While at the conference, I got to meet some really interesting people, I learned how other colleges, across the United States, layout their newspapers, and I have some valuable information to bring back to use for our newspaper.

I kept getting the right answers during Photography Jeopardy though.

I miss doing theater.

Once the conference was over, I luckily had the option of going straight to my house in New Jersey where I spent the remainder of my break. It was nice being home even though it was only for about four days. I got to see my high school’s production of Footloose which was amazing, and I had lunch with a friend: Pretty much average Spring Break. Maybe next year I’ll do something more awesome, but only time will tell.

Lugging my luggage from NJ to John F. Kennedy International Airport was fun considering it was a 3 hour journey.

With only just 6 more weeks left of Spring 2016, I’m really nervous about what’s next. Maybe I just need to take a leap of faith and go with the flow. I’ll let you know how that goes in two weeks.

A Much Needed Break!

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Rachel

Hey everyone!

Let me start off by saying how sorry I am for not posting any cool entries lately! My life has been insane. Classes have definitely been keeping me on my toes! Which leads me to the topic of this entry…

Spring Break!

All of the students at Riddle just came back from their Spring Break vacation, and I was so excited to have a week where I didn’t have to worry about studying for tests or fitting things into my schedule. Since Daytona Beach is now the Spring Break hot spot for college students, I decided to get out of Florida and go to the best place to avoid crowds – the middle of nowhere.

Spring Break house!

A group of 30 of my closest friends decided to rent a house up in Blue Ridge, Georgia for the whole week of Spring Break. The house was absolutely gorgeous – and also conveniently located on the edge of the mountain. Since we were basically in the middle of nowhere, the trip offered a chance to get connected to nature. One day during the week, a group of us decided to hike up Blood Mountain, which was a total of eight miles. Now, I’m not a hiker by any means, so going uphill was treacherous, but once we got to the summit of the mountain, the view made the fire in my calves worth it!

Another day of the week, a couple of us decided to make the hour drive to the Atlanta Zoo. It was a lot of fun seeing what animals the zoo had to offer. My favorite part of the trip was going to the petting zoo (which was for children) and brushing the goats!

Blood Mountain, Blue Ridge, GA

My best part about my trip to Georgia was being able to celebrate my 20th birthday! This was my first year not being home for my special day, so it was hard not having my traditional birthday dinner with my family. But I was surrounded by 30 of the greatest people I have ever met, so they definitely made my 20th one to remember!

Now that I am back from my much needed break, I am ready to continue the semester with a fresh outlook! Time to get focused!

Back to Reality… Spring Break Recap

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Lindsey

Hello again!

It has definitely been awhile. I am just getting back into the swing of things, since I had an extended Spring Break vacation. Now its time to hunker down and complete all of the final projects that have been looming all semester. But first, let me tell you about my Spring Break!

I was able to take an early Spring Break, since the Women in Aviation Conference started on the Thursday before Spring Break. Myself, along with two other ladies, drove to Nashville, Tennessee to attend the conference. We ended up driving all throughout the night to get there, but eventually ended up at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville. It is a beautiful resort, and the largest in all of North America. It was incredible. My friend and I actually got lost trying to find an exit to the outdoors!!

Some of us at the Women in Aviation Conference

The conference was great. I had the opportunity to volunteer at the conference, so I spent a lot of time doing that. I also got to talk to a few companies that I was really interested in. It was nice to talk to hiring managers face-to-face, instead of over the phone/email. One of my favorite moments of the conference was getting to hear a flight attendant from the Miracle on the Hudson speak about her experiences that day. It was a very emotional and unimaginable story.

In addition to conference, I spent a few hours exploring Nashville. I had never been there before, and I love country music, so I figured it was the perfect time to see the city. I got to walk up and down Music Row, see the Country Music Hall of Fame, eat at two of the most popular restaurants in Nashville, and see a concert at the Grand Ole Opry!! Originally, I just walked over to the Grand Ole Opry to see it, however, after walking inside the ticket office, I discovered that Dierks Bentley was playing a show there the next night… Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to decide that I was skipping the conference banquet, and going to the concert instead. It had always been a dream of mine to see a concert at the Grand Ole Opry, and I am so glad I took the opportunity when it presented itself. The show was incredible. It was awesome to see the other nine country artists who all had different styles of country music. So, basically, Nashville and the concert were awesome! It was a great way to start off my Spring Break.

Standing in front of the Grand Ole Opry

Inside the Grand Ole Opry

Once I got back from Nashville, I hit the road again to drive down to Fort Myers, Florida. I spent four days in Fort Myers, which was nice because it was my time to relax. We went to Sanibel Island to see the lighthouse, went fishing for an entire day, and went shopping at the outlets. It was a very nice few days, besides the fact that I got very sun burnt, and am still feeling the affects.

After a few days in Fort Myers, I traveled back to Daytona, where I would fly out to New York City on Friday. I got the opportunity to spend my last weekend of Spring Break in New York City and Washington, D.C. with the Admissions team. As you know, I am a Women’s Ambassador, which is why I was able to travel and speak at the Accepted Student’s Receptions in both cities.

We spent Friday night and Saturday in New York City. Surprisingly, we actually had time to tour the city Friday night. We went up the Empire State Building, went to see Ground Zero, saw Broadway, drove through SoHo, saw Madison Square Garden, and saw the Statue of Liberty. Our hotel was right in Times Square, so we also got to see all of the tourist attractions there. We didn’t end up getting back to our hotel until about 12:30am that night, but it was so worth it.

On top of the Empire State Building

Times Square

After the Accepted Students Reception, we went to Penn Station and caught a train to Washington, D.C. I had never been on a train before, plus the fact that we got to see New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. by train, so I was very excited! The train ride was a lot of fun since we were in Business Class and had a lot of space to ourselves.

We arrived in D.C. late Saturday night, and stayed until Monday morning. After the event on Sunday, we went and toured around D.C. I got to see the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, the WWII Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the White House. It was an incredible day filled with so much history. The only unfortunate part was that the cherry blossoms were not blooming, and the National Archives closed before we could go to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. All in all, I had an amazing time in our nation’s capitol.

Standing with President Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial

The National Mall

The White House

So, that’s my Spring Break recap. I was able to meet some amazing aviators, families, and future ERAU students. I had a few days to relax and live the island life. Then, I traveled up to the freezing weather to talk with incredible students and sight-see, of course. Overall, I am so grateful for the adventures I got to enjoy during Spring Break 2016.

Until next time,

Lindsey

Countdown to Spring Break

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Skye

Happy Saturday everyone! It has been a crazy few weeks on my side so I do apologize for not writing a blog in a bit. However, I am back…and so are the bikes! The 75^th Bike Week is here. Starting yesterday, bikes from all around the country have come down to Daytona Beach for Bike Week 2016. Fun for them, but the traffic is a little bit of a bother.

On the Space side of things, SpaceX finally launched their Falcon 9 with SES-9 yesterday at 18:35:00 on the dot! The original days of launch, last Wednesday and Thursday, I was actually at Kennedy Space Center on restricted ground about 2.8-3.0 miles away from the launch pad. She was sure a beauty! It was really cold there. Even though the rocket never lit, it was still a nice experience seeing a rocket up close. SpaceX then rescheduled for this past Sunday but at less than T-5 seconds and counting, the engines ignited but did not have enough trust to the launch was aborted. After all that mumbo jumbo, she finally launched last night and it was beautiful. I was in Port Orange at that time but seeing the light in the sky fade into a nice parabola into a geotransfer orbit was the best part of my day. I did find out that the satellite deployed nominally. Congratulations for another successful launch and deployment SpaceX!

Keeping on the subject of Space, I am really starting to get involved as a NASA Solar System Ambassador! I have been getting updated on teleconferences up the wazoo, as well as, starting to plan my events for SSA. It is going really well. I will soon have a lot more time on my hands, another story for another time, so I can focus more on SSA. I am excited for the future!

I also registered for Fall classes on Friday. I am super excited to be taking

Physics II for Engineers
Statics
Business Statistics
Technical Report Writing
Spacecraft Payloads
Human Factors in Space

Yep, that is 18 credits but I am up for the challenge!

This semester is certainly going by fast! I have a calculus test on Tuesday so I have been studying all day for that one. I will be taking a break later tonight for Dinner and a Tribute to Bon Jovi concert for the Family Fun Days in Port Orange. Other than that I have a paper due next week but nothing super heavy. I am really excited for Spring Break! On Friday, Josh (boyfriend) and I are leaving for Chicago. We are staying there until the following Tuesday. On that same week, we are going on a cruise Thursday-Sunday for my parent’s 20^th wedding anniversary. Super excited for that! I am going to try and not gain 200 pounds from the all you can eat buffet! I will be sure to get my workout on!

That is what has been happening and what is about to happen in the life of Skye right now! The Countdown to Spring Break is definitely on!

Have a great one!

Two Week Recap

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Lindsey

These past two weeks have been full of excitement and memories! As I mentioned before, the Daytona 500 was two weekends ago. Luckily, the weather cooperated, and it was a beautiful day for some racing!

We woke up early on Sunday morning to walk over to the track. There were people and cars everywhere! The roads were all at a stand still. Thankfully, Embry-Riddle is close enough to the Speedway, so it wasn’t a bad walk at all. Once we got to the Speedway, we walked around and looked at all of the vendors. There were tons of merchandise tents, as well as a lot of food options. After a few hours of walking around, we went up to our seats and took in the sunshine and wonderful views.

Standing outside the Daytona International Speedway

After the Florida Georgia Line concert, and the driver introductions, it was time for the Thunderbirds to do a fly over! As always, it’s one of the coolest moments of the race. Sadly, my hometown driver, Kasey Kahne, didn’t win the 500, but it was still a fun experience! The last lap of the race was the most exciting part. I am already looking forward to the next Daytona 500!

The view of Turn 1 from our seats

Last weekend, the sorority which I am a member of, Sigma Sigma Sigma, had our formal. Normally formal is held at a hotel or resort, where you have a nice dinner and spend time with friends. This year, our sorority decided to do something different…

We went to the Crayola Experience in Orlando. It is a huge building that is all about Crayola Crayons. It was fun to do something out of the ordinary! We got to make and name our own crayons, see how crayons are made, and even take a picture that was turned into a coloring page!

It has been a great two weeks. Now it’s one more week until Spring Break! I can’t wait to head off to Nashville, South Florida, New York City, and Washington D.C. over break! I will let you know all about it!

Until next time,

Lindsey

My Life @ Riddle

Daytona Beach Edition

Tag Archives: Spring Break

Spring Break in the Mountains

Spring Break Road Trip

Ignite Research Abroad- Cuba

Spring Break with my Friend Stella

Winter Storm Stella – Travel Tips

Spring Break Round 2

A Much Needed Break!

Back to Reality… Spring Break Recap

Countdown to Spring Break

Two Week Recap